This invention relates generally to diagnostic ultrasound systems. In particular, the present invention relates to method and apparatus for processing and displaying an enhanced image based on an identified plane within a volume of data.
Conventional ultrasound scanners are capable of acquiring and displaying a volume of data. Unfortunately, it has been difficult to correctly identify a specific plane of data within the volume of data that a user wishes to see. It has been necessary in conventional ultrasound scanners to store the volume of data prior to processing in order to locate the desired anatomic data. Unfortunately, this is time consuming and may result in longer exam times to acquire and process additional data, and may perhaps require additional volumes of data to be acquired or an exam to be repeated.
Additionally, there is a need to correlate the resultant processed image with its location within the volume of data. It may be desirable to view data which is near the identified plane but not currently selected. Also, it may be desirable to view data near or in the identified plane in a different manner, such as by enhancing different features. The features may be bone or soft tissue, for example. Furthermore, doctors who may be more familiar with reviewing image data from other modalities, such as X-ray, may find reviewing the ultrasound data more valuable if X-ray-like images could be created from the ultrasound volume for comparison with the volume of data.
Thus, a system and method are desired to process and display data from within a volume that addresses the problems noted above and others previously experienced.